CSI gets Interns
by Blue Rose of the Full Moon
Summary: Things are going well at the CSI lab, until Grissom agrees to take on four interns over the summer. Chaos, hilarity, and a bit of insanity. Slight, no scratch that, Definately AU.
1. Agreeing to interns

Gil Grissom sat at his desk reading over reports and wondering why he had even agreed to allow the CSI lab to take a group of college students on for internships. _'that's right, Debbie just had to throw in the "You owe me." She knows I can't stand owing someone.'_ His mind wandered back to the phone call he had received last month:

_**FLASHBACK**_

He sighed as his phone rang for the third time that morning. Wearily, he set down the file he had been reading and stretched over to pick up the receiver. "Grissom."

"Oh good, you are still there." The female voice seemed to drift out of the phone and out of the past.

"Debbie? Is that you?"

"Well of course, Gil. I don't expect you keep in touch with many of your old friends." There was laughter in Debbie's voice as she took a jab at Grissom's somewhat anti-social personality.

"So what's this about? We usually just send emails, seeing as calling times are awkward, what with being on opposite coasts. And there's always a reason for you calling." Grissom's voice was laced with amusement.

"Are you saying I only call when I want something from you?" There was sarcasm in every word.

"Yes."

"Well, you're right, as usual. I need a favor."

"What is this favor you ask of me?"

"I have four students who are really looking for internships, and they really want to stick together, but every other lab has turned them down."

"You want my lab to take on _four_ interns?" This was not what he had expected. "Deb, you know that's rare here." Grissom pulled his glasses from his face, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not sure. The lab does have funds set aside for interns, but we only ever took on one or two. They would just get a small stipend if I did make it happen."

"They already received a grant from the school to pay for food, housing, extra expenses. It's a combined grant, which is why they are looking for an internship together. Please Gil, they really want an internship, and you owe me."

'_Oh no, she said those three little words. I can't say no now. She knows me too well.' _ "Alright. I'll get them approved, just fax me their information. How is it that you always know what to say to get me to agree to your little schemes?"

"Ha. I knew you would say yes because one: I keep in touch, two: you like to annoy Ecklie-approving interns would do just that, and three: because you hate owing someone."

"Oh, and the lab always provides housing for the interns. I hope these kids are good, because if they aren't, you will owe me. Big time. Just keep that in mind."

"Gil, I wouldn't ask you to take them if I didn't think they could handle it. They will be fine. I'm faxing their information right now. Four resumes, eight recommendations, and four pictures, no wait, I'll email the pictures." There was the whirring of a machine starting up in the background. "Oh, and when can you take them? And how long will they be able to stay?"

"They can arrive June 7, that will give them time to get situated. They will be starting on Monday." There was a short silence before Grissom spoke again. "They can stay until they need to head back for school. That's what, eight weeks? Oh, and they will be working under me, which means they will be on night shift."

"Alright. I will let them know that they have an internship. Thank you so much Gil. I really appreciate this."

"Yes, I know. Otherwise, you wouldn't have played the 'You owe me' chip. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye." Grissom placed the receiver back, and leaned back in his chair.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

_**END FLASHBACK**_

"What did I get myself into?" Grissom wondered. That phone call had been a month ago, but now, the day the interns were arriving, he was having second thoughts about allowing Debbie to talk him into letting them come. The team had been understandably confused, but accepted his decision without question, though there was much speculation as to why he had agreed. Days had usually gotten the interns, but Ecklie's reputation had spread like wildfire, and no one wanted to intern for them anymore. The department could afford to have four interns, because there hadn't been interns for 2 years now, but now Grissom wondered if his team could handle four college girls.


	2. Enter the interns

Hallo all who reviewed the first chapter. Thanks a bunch. Here we are following Greg, who, sadly, pulled the short straw(figuratively, Grissom just sent him because all the other night shift CSIs had left), and was sent to pick up the interns from the airport. Oh, and VSI: Vice Stage Interrogation, which will be mentioned, is not mine, but is mickeylover303's creation. I'm just borrowing the idea, because I found it amusing. So, continuing.

* * *

Greg leaned against the side of the Denali, parked just outside the baggage claim area at McCarran International, grumbling unhappily as he scanned the crowd of people surging out of the doors. He glanced, once again, at the sign he had propped up on the passenger window of the vehicle, and read it once again: **Las Vegas Crime Lab Interns**. "I though we were never going to have interns after what happened last time."

"And what happened last time?" The voice behind him made him jump, as he turned back towards the terminal. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I forget I do that to people." He blinked at the young woman standing in front of him.

"Am I to understand that you are one of the Interns?"

"Yeah, we decided it would make it simpler if one of us came outside to find our ride while the other three got the bags. I'm guessing" She stifled an enormous yawn with her arm "guessing you're it."

"Yep. So where are the other three then?"

"Still getting baggage, probably. It was a pretty full flight, for being so early." She yawned again, not even bothering to cover it, simply turning her head to the side. "I'm sorry. I'm being pretty rude." She switched the bag she had been carrying to her left hand and stuck out her right. "I'm Ella Terbot."

Greg grasped the proffered hand and shook it, "Greg Sanders. Nice to meet you." They dropped hands and she turned to look for her companions. Greg took the moment to study Ella. Just over 5 foot, shoulder length brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail, brilliant blue eyes sparkling from under long lashes. She wore what looked like a plain gray tee-shirt, and a pair of athletic shorts. A pair of red-framed sunglasses were perched on top of her head. Slung around her neck was what appeared to be a pair of warm-up pants, and as he watched, she pulled the pants off her shoulders and shoved them into her tote bag. She pulled a purse out and threaded it onto her shoulder through the strap of the backpack she wore. Her shoes were a pair of nondescript tennis shoes, and white socks were visible at the top. Suddenly she turned back to Greg.

"Do you mind if I put my stuff in the back?" She lifted the tote and pointed at the back of the denali.

"Depends on how big the checked baggage is. There's not much room back there." Now that the pants weren't covering the majority of her shirt, he noticed the emblem. "You watch VSI?" He pointed at the logo.

"Huh?" She looked down at her shirt. "Oh, Yeah, mostly because it's amusing. Partly because the characters are interesting. Do you?"

"Yeah, mostly for the same reasons."

"ELLA!!" A voice shouted over the babble of the crowd. "Stop talkin' and come get your bag!!"

"Be right back." Ella dropped everything but her purse and dashed back towards the terminal and three girls struggling with four good sized bags. She grabbed one and dodged a hit upside the head from the girl who had shouted for Ella. Now hauling a bag behind her, she led the way back to where Greg stood, looking amusedly at the strange group. "This is Greg Sanders, be nice." This second part was addressed to the shouting girl. She grinned and dodged a smack and hauled her bag to the back of the SUV.

"Hi, I'm Andrea Smith. Nice to meet you Greg." She looked much like Ella, with darker, curlier hair that was loose around her shoulders, and cool hazel eyes. Short, broad shouldered, wearing a black tee with some kind of design on it and blue jeans. A pair of black vans stuck out at the bottom of her pants. They shook hands and Andrea stomped off to try and smack Ella again.

"Sorry about them, they act, look like, and call themselves The Twins. I'm Soleil Valentine." She was taller, closer to 6 foot, and wore faded blue jeans that hugged her slim hips, a bright green tank top, and a pair of worn down converses. Her dark brown hair shone copper in the sun, pulled back in a high ponytail, her deep green eyes shone with amusement. Greg shook her hand and she walked towards where the "Twins" were shouting at each other about how to pack things in the back, eventually pushing both of them to the side.

"Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm Maxine Anderson. If you call me Maxine, I will kick you. Hard. I go by Max." He shook her hand while she seemed to be bouncing up and down like a rubber ball. She was not as tall as Soleil, but taller than Ella and Andrea. She wore a loose blue tee and plain blue jeans, metal framed glasses sat in front of sparkling brown eyes. A silver-gray purse was slung at her side, and her brown hair was gathered in a thick ponytail at the back of her head.

"Believe me, she will." Ella was back around to the side of the vehicle. "Go put your stuff in the back, Max. SHOTGUN!!"

"Dang it!! El, I'm so going to get you for this."

"Do your worst, Sol, I can take you any day. Oh wait, we can't, Dr. B told us to behave." What Greg could only describe as an evil smirk plastered itself across Ella's face. "Come on, you fools decided to go against my advice, and are still wearing pants. You must be boiling. I told you Nevada was HOT!! Nope, ya'll had to wear jeans, while I wore my warm-ups over my shorts. We ready?" She turned to Greg to ask the question.

"Yep, let's get to the apartment we have set up for you." Greg grabbed the sign and walked around to the driver's side as the interns clambered in. He looked back at the three in the back as he hopped in and nearly laughed when he saw them all sitting in a row with their carry-on items tucked between their feet. _'this is going to be interesting. These kids are gonna be so much fun to be around. Wonder what kind of music they listen to.'_ "Hey, you all ok if I turn on the radio?"

A chorus of "sure" met him as he turned the engine over. Music began to pour out of the speakers, as the four girls tried to convince Greg to change the channel. Only Ella seemed unfazed by the pounding music, instead she cocked her head to the side as she listened to the lyrics. The song ended and a new song began, and Ella's eyes lit up. "I love this song!"

Greg glanced at her, amused, as she started to move with the music. He laughed a bit, and began to move with it himself. The ride seemed to fly past as they began to share stories about their college classes with Greg, and chatting about the pranks they had played on each other.

Ella's voice cut through a short lull in the conversation."Hang on, You never did tell me what happened with the last interns."

"Oh, well. Two years ago, we had a couple of interns, well Days did, but anyway. One of the interns decided it would be amusing to make the locker room into an ice rink."

"Are you serious?" Soleil's mouth was hanging half open as she asked.

Greg nodded. "Well, the first person to walk in there after the ice had been frozen was Hodges. Well, next thing Hodges knows is that he's lying on his back against the lockers along the back wall. It knocked the wind out of him, and he nearly broke his back. So this intern practically falls out from around the corner laughing like a maniac, and Hodges yells at him, course he can't get up, because he's in so much pain. Then Ecklie come out to find out what happened, and on the spot tells this intern to get out and pack his things. Next day, he's on a plane back to his home." Silence settled in the vehicle as the four girls absorbed this information. "Luckily, you guys will be working under Grissom, because Ecklie doesn't take interns anymore."

"I wonder why." Andrea's sarcastic comment made them all laugh.

The relaxed silence was suddenly broken by the shrill ringing of a cell phone. Greg grabbed his phone off it's clip and answered. "Sanders." The 4 girls went silent as he listened to whoever had called.

"We're almost at the apartment though."

"But..."

"Alright, we're coming, but can we at least dump the suitcases at the apartment?"

"Fine, fine. I see how it is."

"No, Griss, its fine."

"Alright." Greg snapped the phone shut and sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Slight change of plans, girls. We're heading over to the lab for a minute. There's been a sudden development on a major case. I have to be there for this."

"Thats fine. We can take a quick look around the lab, right?" Max's question buzzed through the car, all the other girls sat up interested.

"I guess, we'll probably have to have an escort for you. Nick might be willing to do it. He's probably just waiting for results right now. We'll see."

* * *

So while I was writing this Chapter, the "Who Are You" song came on the radio, and I started dancing like mad. Ohmanitmademehappy!! Done spazzing now. I think. Yep. SQUEEEEEEEAL!!

Oh, and more reviews means faster updates. WINK WINK

BRotFM


	3. Nick meets the Interns

Nick gets followed!! Poor guy, he's so tired.

* * *

Nick had been lying on the sofa in the break room for almost an hour, waiting for some test results to come back. Half asleep, one arm was thrown across his eyes, the other simply hung off the side of the couch. "Nick Stokes?" The sound of the unfamiliar voice made him twitch and come dangerously close to falling off the couch.

"Huu...? Whosat?" His groggy mumblings elicited a giggle from somewhere in the room.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Ella Terbot, one of the new interns." The voice lowered to a mutter "and these guys call themselves CSI's." More giggles, from multiple sources.

Nick pulled his arm off his face, grabbed the back of the sofa, and hauled himself into a sitting position. He looked at the source of the voice and the giggling. Four girls looked curiously back at him, one of whom was bouncing, holding both hands over her mouth, trying and failing miserably to hide a grin(Max, in case you couldn't figure that out). "Sorry, who are you again?"

"Ella Terbot, one of the new interns." The one who spoke was standing next to the bouncy one, who was on his far left. "This one" She jabbed her thumb at the bouncy one, "is Maxine Anderson, but I recommend that, if you don't want to become a soprano, you call her Max." At this, Max dissolved into an enormous fit of giggles. Ella sighed and pulled a bottle of Mountain Dew out of a bag she was carrying and shoved it at Max. "I was actually planning on giving you this later." Max's eyes gleamed as she lunged for the bottle and almost immediately drank half.

Nick's eyes bulged. "You just gave a hyper person CAFFEINE?" the nap induced fog had suddenly dissipated from his brain.

"Yes. She has ADHD. In about 20 minutes, she'll actually be able to sit." Ella turned away and began prodding Max towards the table.

Nick turned gaping at the other two, both of whom had barely concealed grins on their faces. "I'm Soleil Valentine, excuse me while I keep El from strangling Max." Soleil made her way to where Max was attempting to steal Ella's sunglasses from atop her head.

"Andrea Smith." The fourth girl simply gave her name, plopped down on a corner of the couch, and fell asleep.

Nick stared around at the four girls, then rose and walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. Soleil wandered over and stood next to him as he watched Ella and Max with some amusement. "She really doesn't mean to do it."

"What?" The comment blindsided him.

"Ella. She doesn't mean to startle people. She just does. It's usually pretty amusing, which is why we let her do it."

"Oh." Nick sipped his coffee. "And what about the caffeine thing?" He glanced sideways at Soleil. "Is that true?"

"Yeah. Something about caffeine being a stimulant and affecting their brains differently."

"Their? Do you mean Ella too?" This girl was confusing him.

"Kinda, El has ADD, so it works a little on her." She stared at her friends as Max pulled a game unit out of her purse, and Ella squeezed up next to her to watch whatever it was. "Greg told us to come over here, he said 'Tell Nick he has to watch you guys, because you don't have clearance yet,' So now I've told ya."

Nick nearly choked on his coffee. "HE SAID WHAT?"

Four pairs of eyes stared at him. "He also said you would do that." Andrea's amused voice made Max giggle once more.

"I'm going to kill him." He set down his mug and rubbed the back of his neck. "Any thing else he said?"

"That you would- and I quote- 'He'll swear to kill me, so say it's payback for claiming to be busy so I had to pick up you guys' end quote." Max grinned at him. "Greg's pretty funny."

Nick glared at nothing in particular. "I was busy."

"Not according to Greg" Andrea's eyes glittered. "He said you were just going for a break when he left."

"Okay, ya'll need to cut that out. Leave the poor guy alone. I just scared him, and he doesn't need to be picked on anymore." Ella stared at each one in turn, her face suddenly serious. "Sorry Nick."

The suddenly solemn faces confused him, as he considered what it was that would create such an uncomfortable silence so suddenly. "So, um. Do ya'll want to see some of the lab?" The question broke the awkward silence like a hammer through a sheet of glass.(hmm, awkward turtle)

"Sure!" Max's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"Alright, come on." He pushed himself off of the counter, grabbed his mug, and led the way out of the break room. "You won't be allowed to go into any of the labs because of safety issues, but I can show you where things are."

"Thats fine." Ella's voice was still subdued.

"Hey, you said 'ya'll' a minute ago. Where are ya'll from?"

"We're from North Carolina. We've all lived there for a good long while." Ella perked up as she began to spout off about her home state, and the Nevada heat not being as bad because in North Carolina it's the humidity that gets to you. The four of them bubbled with talk as Nick gave a grand tour of the lab, indicating where certain tests go, which labs are for what, and what the different work areas are for.

"This is the locker room, co-ed, so ya'll will probably get... these lockers." Nick pointed out four lockers that were cracked open, with the locks hanging open on the front.

"Which locker is Greg's?" Max was wandering up and down the rows, staring at the lockers.

Nick reached out and tapped one. "This one." He pointed at another locker, "That one is mine."

"Nick!" Greg's voice floated into the room as he jogged down the hall towards the group. "We got him. Jealous boyfriend got tired of the vics meeting for lunch now and again, and killed them both." He came to a stop, grinning and panting slightly. "Brass is bringing him in right now."

"Cool, 'though I don't see why you had to tell me."

"Griss wanted me to bring the Interns down to the interrogation room. Sent me to come get 'em." He grinned at the girls. "You get to watch an interrogation."

"I guess that means I don't have to watch them anymore." Nick glared at Greg, but it seemed to just roll past, with no impact on the younger CSI.

"Yep. Oh, and Mandy said to let you know that she has something to show you on the prints off the letter opener." Greg turned to the girls, "come on, we've got an interrogation to get to."

* * *

YAY!! Chapter 3 is finished. Huzzahzle. Oh, and I'm not going to show the actual interrogation, or at least I don't think so. I might introduce the interns to Grissom and Brass, but I can't decide. Give me suggestions!!

I heart my reviewers, ya'll keep me going. R&R PEOPLE!! 'cause I know that you're reading. It really doesn't take that long.

**Ella:** Yeah, if you don't I'll sic Max on you.

**BRotFM:**HEY!! Get back in the story!!

**Ella:** HA!! You can't make me!!

**BRotFM:** _holds up pen_ OH, really? Then what's this? Oh, it means I CONTROL YOU!!

**Ella:** _stares at the pen, color drains from her face_ Oh, Bugger. _RUNS AWAY SCREAMING._

Anywhozle, Read, Review, Flames will be laughed at, Constructive flames will be used to heat water for my shower.

Oh, and I prolly need a disclaimer: If I owned, I wouldn't be writing this. I AM BROKE STUDENT. I GET NOTHING!! Please don't sue me.

BRotFM


	4. Grissom and the Apartment

So, I decided not to show the interrogation, or them actually meeting Brass, but they will talk about meeting him. So here is chapter 4.

* * *

Gil Grissom sat on the bench outside the interrogation room, reading over the case file and occasionally checking the evidence in the box sitting open beside him. _'Greg should be back by now. I sent him to get the interns 5 minutes ago.'_

"Grissom." He looked up to see Greg standing before him with four young women. He rose to his feet as Greg began introducing them. "This is Soleil Valentine, Maxine Anderson but she goes by Max, Andrea Smith, and Ella Terbot." Grissom shook their hands as each was introduced and stepped forward. "This is Dr. Gilbert Grissom, he'll be your boss while you're here."

"Nice to meet you. I apologize for keeping you from getting settled in, but I need Greg here for this."

"Thats alright." The girl who had been introduced as Soleil spoke up. "We're happy to watch this, if you approve, I guess."

"Certainly, thats why I sent Greg to get you." Grissom smiled and replaced the lid on the evidence box. He checked his watch, and pointed at one half of the interrogation room. "You four will watch from in there. Brass should be bringing in the suspect anytime now."

The interns trooped into the viewing portion of the interrogation room and Greg turned to Grissom. "This is going to be an interesting eight weeks. Those four are crazy."

"They seemed alright to me."

"You didn't ride in a car with them. Max practically talked my ear off." Greg looked down the hall towards the entrance. "Here comes Brass with our perp."

"Good, lets get this guy." Grissom smiled and then followed Detective Brass into the main portion of the interrogation room.

* * *

**Shortly After the Interrogation**

"That was pretty cool. Especially when Dr. Grissom just pulled the evidence out and figuratively slapped him with it. Man, I am exhausted."

"Funny you should claim that, Max, when you are the only one who seems to have any _energy_." Andrea glared at her friend, eyes almost crossed in exhaustion, as if wishing she would drop down asleep as they walked out to Greg's denali.

"Is Captain Brass always such a stick-in-the-mud? I mean, he was so serious when Dr. Grissom introduced him. He seemed rather, stiff." Ella glanced questioningly at Greg, "Or is he one of those people who don't act like they normally would around new acquaintances?"

"Yeah, he was just trying to scare you a bit." Greg grinned and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Though I would tend to agree with him about being careful when Griss wants you to help him with an experiment. I speak from experience here, I'm sure the rest of the CSI's agree."

"Well that's a good thing to know." Soleil yawned hugely, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "Do we get to go get some sleep now?"

"Yeah, Griss told me to get you to the apartment. I'll probably be in charge of your transportation while you're here. My apartment isn't too far from the one you'll be staying at." Greg unlocked the denali and everyone piled in, eager to get settled into the apartment.

This time the ride was mostly quiet, as Andrea and Soleil dozed in the backseat, Max and Ella kept awake enough to talk some with Greg. When they arrived at the apartment, Max prodded Soleil awake, and Ella poked Andrea, which caused her to yelp and sit bolt upright.

"What was that for?"

"We're at the apartment, We need to get our stuff inside." Ella gave her 'twin' a pointed look, and walked to the back of the SUV. Each girl grabbed her bag as Greg hauled it out of the back, and waited for Greg to lead them to the apartment.

"Catherine got this apartment, she said she dropped by yesterday to make sure everything was in order." Greg lead them up a flight of stairs, following directions scribbled on a sheet of paper, walking along the balcony, checking the numbers on the doors, finally stopping in front of one of the doors. "263, this is it." He pulled a key from his pocket, pushed it into the lock and opened the door. "Lets see, four bedrooms, two baths, four keys, and a kitchen/dining/living room." Greg pulled the key from the lock and set it with three exactly like it on the counter as he read through a list also written on the paper.

The four girls dropped their suitcases by the table and fanned out to see the apartment. Greg watched as each claimed a room, returning to her suitcase and wheeling it into the room or dropping it at the door, and was startled when his phone rang. He pulled it from the clip and checked the caller ID: _Willows_. He chuckled and answered the call. "Hello, Catherine. And what caused you to call me so early in the morning?"

**"Gregory Sanders, Do not patronize me!"** Greg pulled the phone slightly away from his ear. **"I know I gave you explicit instructions to call me when you got the interns to the apartment. Their plane got in over two HOURS ago. Did you even go and pick them up?"**

"Calm down Cath, Grissom called me back to the lab because he found something major on our case, and he wanted me to go in with him for the interrogation. I told him I had the interns, and we were almost to the apartment, but he insisted I go in."

**"Oh."** Greg grinned as the interns returned to the dining room area and sat down around the table, watching Greg with varying degrees of amusement and curiosity. Greg pressed a button on the phone and Catherine's voice rang through the room. **"Well are you at the apartment now?"**

"Yep, we got here... oh... a minute before you called." Greg's grin stretched wider as he signaled for the girls to keep quiet. "I believe they just chose their rooms."

**"Greg, did you put me on speakerphone?"** Greg's Cheshire cat smile faltered for a moment. **"The sound from your end just changed."**

"Nope. Anyway, why did you call?" Greg carefully composed himself to keep his amusement from being evident in his voice.

**"I just wanted to make sure that the interns got settled in alright."**

"Yeah, I think everything is just fine. Do you want to ask them yourself?" He grinned as the interns tried to stifle their laughter.

**"In a minute. I need to know if I left a copy of the shift schedule there for them. It would be stuck on the fridge or under the keys."** There was a brief pause as Greg turned and looked at the fridge. **"Are you sure I'm not on speakerphone?"**

"It's not under the keys, yeah, it's on the fridge. And no, you aren't on speaker." His eyebrows moved upwards as Max nearly lost to her giggles.

**"What was that? It sounded like someone talking for a minute."**

"Well, I am still at the apartment. Of course these kids are talking."

**"Greg, I'm on speaker, aren't I."** It was a statement, and all four girls burst out laughing at the crestfallen expression on Greg's face. **"You might have been able to fool Nicky with that, but not me."**

"Yeah, yeah. I can still try."

**"Next time, don't try, just leave it alone."** There was a hint of laughter in Catherine's voice. **"So, are you going to introduce me to the interns?"**

"Cath, this is Ella Terbot, Max Anderson, Andrea Smith, and Soleil Valentine. Ladies," There was barely contained laughter from the phone and from the four girls, "This is Catherine Willows, CSI 3 and Grissom's second-in-command."

**"I'm sure I'll get the chance to meet you Monday. I was hoping to be the one to pick you up from the airport, but I had to get home. Oh, and there is a contact list on the back of the timesheet. If you four have an urgent question, feel free to call. I've got to get going now. I'll see you all Monday."** The call ended and Greg made a small face at the phone.

"Well, that was highly entertaining, but being on a plane for several hours is not conducive to arriving rested and ready to go." Max grinned sheepishly. "I have to admit that even I'M tired. We should get to bed if we're going to be ready for night shift Monday."

"Agreed. Caffeine can only take a person so far. We can unpack tomorrow night, and be ready for Monday." Ella let her eyes cross as she spoke. "Thanks for picking us up and dropping us off here. I guess we'll see you in two days."

"Yeah, I'm going to get home and get some sleep myself, I'll come by around 7:30PM Monday to take you to the lab." Greg walked out the door, pausing to throw one last comment at the group: "Don't forget to lock the door!"

* * *

Again, I got to listen to "Who Are You" and again, it made me SOOO happy!! YAY!!

**Ella:** _peeks around door_ Is it okay if we come out now?

**Blue:**_ Glares_ We? Who is this 'we' you speak of?

**Ella:** Um, me and Max, and Soleil, and Andrea. We want to talk to people.

**Blue:**_ lifts eyebrow sceptically_ Ya'll talk to me all the time. Do I not count as 'people' now? AND FIX YOUR GRAMMAR!!

**Max:** Of course you're people. We want to talk to the reviewers though. _looks at reviewers_ OMG THANX!!

**Blue:** What is this, attack of the muses day? What do you kids think you are doing outside the story?

**Soleil:** Oh, come on, Blue, you keep us cooped up all day in the story, do you think we won't get restless?

**Ella:** At least let us out for a little bit!

**Max:** Besides, Ella's been working on that bit further on. You can't blame her for getting bored with it. You don't even have the context for it.

**Blue:** Well, if ya'll would actually work with me, I could post faster, and you would have things to do in the story, and the 'bit further on' would make sense to you. SO... Get back in the story where you BELONG!!

**Andrea:** But it's BORING right now. At least let us explode something.

**Blue:**_ Completely serious face_ NO. There will be no explosions. And besides, ya'll should be dead exhausted. You HAVE been awake for, oh seventeen HOURS!!

**Soleil:** Hey, that's Max's fault. SHE'S the one who didn't pack until the last minute. I'm still annoyed that she made us help her out. _turns to Max_ You should have been packed long before our flight left.

**Andrea:** I either want to go to sleep right now, or explode something, right now, it looks like sleep is the best bet, so Max, DON'T EVEN START. I WILL rip you to shreds.

**Blue:** _Looks helplessly at readers. _Please review, so that I can put these goons to work replying to reviews.

**Ella:** All reviews accepted.

**Max:** Even flames. Which will be laughed at.

**Soleil:** Constructive flame will be used to make Blue her Grits. So she can live and work on the story more.

**Andrea: **And no, Blue still doesn't own CSI,

**Blue:** Although I wish I did

**Andrea:**_ glares_ And so she has no moneys to be sued for. So don't.


	5. First Night at Work

Okay, So I realized that I'm probably confusing some people with the timing. Here's a timeline for ya'll.

Grissom gets the phone call: Early May/ Late April.  
Interns Arrive: June 7, Saturday, early morning, 6ish. (Remember, these guys work nights, I always figured they would just be getting off shift.)  
Interns scare Nick: around 6:45 (he's waiting for results, trying to crack a case, using his overtime. They seem to spend most of their waking time there.)  
Interns watch interrogation: around 7:15  
Interns arrive at the apartment: 7:50, maybe 8:00.

So there we have a timeline. And Now we skip ahead to the 9th, Monday, when the Interns officially start work.

* * *

**Monday Night, Greg's POV**

I got to the interns' apartment a minute early, and somehow they knew I was coming to the door, because Ella stepped outside, moving backwards, and shut the door. As I continued to approach she spoke without turning from the door: "You really don't want to go in there right now." She turned and gave me an apologetic smile.

"Why? Am I going to be mauled or something?" I smirked, "I didn't get mauled when I picked you up on Saturday."

"No, You won't get mauled, but currently, the kitchen, not in good shape."

My eyebrows shot upwards, "Oh, really? This I gotta see." I reached for the doorknob and my fingers had just touched it when it was viciously wrenched inwards.

**Andrea's POV**

"Ella! Get in here now!" I stopped for a moment when I saw Greg standing in the doorway, his hand outstretched towards where the doorknob would have been if the door wasn't open, a surprised and befuddled look on his face. "You are not abandoning me to deal with this mess. Just because you had breakfast before the rest of us doesn't mean you can get out of cleaning up." I glared at Ella as she gave me a smug little smile before turning to Greg, who had lowered his hand and stood staring at, presumably, the kitchen. "Hi Greg, come on in, WE should be done cleaning soon." I put extra emphasis on the 'we' and glared at Ella.

Greg stepped inside and stared at the kitchen, where there was a mess of what had been the preparations of breakfast 30 minutes ago. "What happened?" Ella trudged in behind him, giving me a sullen glare.

"Well, Max and Soleil were trying to fix something to eat, but managed to swap a few ingredients, and they ended up making this mess." Ella made a face at the gooey mass that was steadily oozing all over parts of the counter and down onto the floor. "I ate first, I'm still not sure weather to call it breakfast because I'm just getting up, or dinner because it's evening, anyways, I ate first, and then got ready. When I came out of my room, this is what I found."

I had been listening halfway to Ella as I helped Max pour some of the goop off the counter into the trash. "El, give Soleil a hand with the floor, the sooner we finish, the sooner we can get out of here." Ella sighed and grabbed the mop to help with the cleaning, as Greg stared in amazement.

By the time we had finished cleaning, it was clear we would be a little late. We raced out the door, shouting at each other as Greg waited anxiously in the drivers seat, the vehicle already running. We had barely just shut the doors and hadn't even gotten seated when Greg pulled out of the parking lot.

* * *

When we hurtled into a parking spot at the lab, the five of us bolted from our seats and raced for the building. Greg took the lead once we were inside, sprinting down the halls in front of us. We all slowed down, at exactly the same moment mind, when we came in view of the break room.

"It's not my fault we're late. I was ready to bring them over at 7:30." Greg plopped into a chair at the table as Dr. Grissom gave him a disbelieving, annoyed, aggravated, and exasperated look.

"'s true. Andrea and I were ready, but those two" Ella's finger flits between Max and Soleil, "made an enormous mess in the kitchen. Took us almost 15 minutes to clean it up."

"You've probably made a rather bad impression, seeing as its the first time you are meeting some of the people here." Dr. Grissom turned to Max and Soleil. "I'll let it slip this time, but it shouldn't happen again. Alright?"

"Yessir." The two chorused.

"Alright. Now that everyone's here, we can get introductions out of the way and get to work." Dr. Grissom turned to us, a slight smile on his face. "Why don't you four introduce yourselves, your name, major, and anything else you wish to say about yourself."

"You first." I smirk when Ella glares at me.

"Fine, you want to act shy." Ella steps forward and smiles at the six older people in the room. "I'm Ella Terbot, I'm a Chemistry major, concentration in Forensic Science, with a minor in Criminal Justice. I've also earned my Girl Scout Gold Award, which is comparable to the Eagle Award for Boy Scouts." She turns to me and smirks. "Your turn."

"I'm Andrea Smith, I'm a Biology major with a concentration in Forensic Science, with a double minor in Chemistry and Criminal Justice. I play the trombone in marching band."

Ella and I sat on the couch, and watched as Max and Soleil argued over which of them should go first. Max lost. "Hi, I'm Max Anderson, I'm majoring in Criminal Psycology, double minoring in World Geography and Politics (This being one minor in and of itself) and Chemistry. I've been to Italy 7 times." Max joined us on the couch as Soleil introduced herself.

"I'm Soleil Valentine, majoring in Chemistry, with a concentration inf Forensic Science, double minoring in Criminal Justice and Psychology. I've been doing martial arts for almost 13 years." Ella and I rolled our eyes in unison as Soleil smiled confidently.

"Yeah, she's beat me up on more than one occasion." Ella smirked at Soleil, earning herself a frustrated glare.

"Enough, Els, give us a break." Max elbowed Ella, "Yes, we messed up breakfast, no you don't have to keep picking on us."

We fell silent as Soleil joined us on the couch, and looked expectantly at the CSIs.

"Right, you already met Greg, he's CSI level one." Dr. Grissom began introducing the night shift, each of them acknowledging their names as they were introduced. "I believe you met Nick as well, CSI level 3. Warrick Brown, CSI level 3, Catherine Willows, CSI level 3, Sara Sidle, CSI level 3, and myself, CSI level 3 and supervisor of the graveyard shift." Dr. Grissom smiled a bit. "Welcome to the number 2 crime lab in the country. These are the people you will be working with for the next 8 weeks." Dr. Grissom turned back to his team, glancing at a collection of slips of paper on a clipboard. "Warrick and Sara, DB in Red Rock Canyon, Catherine, you and Greg are on a B & E in Blue Diamond, Nick, you're with me, a worker claims that a human femur caused one of the turbines at Hoover Dam to malfunction." They all took their assignment slips with various groans and grins, and headed for the door.

"Wait" I glanced at Ella, who had the look that said something didn't make sense. "How could a human bone stop one of those turbines? I've seen the turbines, and those things would smash it to bits, even if it _is_ the femur. And even if it was blocking an intake pipe, thats an incredible amount of pressure. The bone would snap, and be ground in the turbine." All the CSI's had stopped and were staring at Ella, as she leaned forward, getting more into her subject. "By the time the water reaches the turbines, its moving at like, 85 miles an hour. There's no way a bone could withstand that pressure."

Dr. Grissom and the rest of his team stared at Ella. The three of us were having a hard time not laughing at the effect Ella's words had had on the room. "Well then, Miss Terbot..."

"Just Ella," She interrupted him, blushing faintly, "please."

"Ella... Would you like to accompany us then?" that question caught all of us off guard and everyone fell silent.

"What?" Nick's astonished question set everyone off, and babble filled the room.

"Sure." Ella spoke the word just loud enough to silence the room. "Unless there's something more important for me to do here, I'll go."

"Good. Now, Miss... or would you rather I use first names?" The three of us nodded as Ella rose and stood by Nick, who started asking her questions in a low voice. "Now, Max, you'll be working with David Hodges in Trace. Soleil, you will be in DNA with Wendy Simms. Andrea, you will be in prints with Mandy Webster. Ella, when we return to the lab, you will be in Toxicology with Henry Andrews. Now" Dr. Grissom turned to his team, most of whom were still staring at Ella "I believe we have work to do."

"Hey, Greg? I think I left my hat in your car. Can we go get it?" Ella looked to Greg, almost pleadingly, and Greg acquiesced.

**Greg's POV**

Ella and I walked back to the car, and I was a little surprised that she remained silent until we reached the vehicle. Once I had unlocked the doors, she climbed half in and started rummaging around the seat she had been in for her hat. Gradually, I noticed she was mumbling something to herself. I leaned closer, and was amazed to hear a torrent of almost fluent Latin coming from her.

"Stulta, tua debere custodia tua oris claudere. Nunc illae voluntas credere tua speciosa est." I nearly laughed at the cross voice she was using, and that she was talking to herself in _Latin_.

"Tua non est speciosa. Tua facere quaestio bonum." Ella jumped and nearly fell off the seat she had been kneeling on. It took her a moment to climb out of the vehicle, hat in hand now, and stand staring at me.

"Tuus loqui Lingua Latina?" She sighed and switched back to English. "Great, that makes four of us."

"Four?"

"Max is the only one who didn't take Latin as a course, but she's picked up a lot. She can usually follow our conversations, partly because we tend to use Broken Latin, but she can understand the general gist."

"Well, actually, that makes six of us. Grissom and Sara know Latin as well."

"Great. Now I won't make a complete fool of myself in front of them, by ranting in Latin. Thanks Mi...er, Greg." She blushed, and ran back into the building, leaving me standing in the parking lot, confused by her momentary slip.

* * *

Translation(very roughly, I'm certain I didn't get some of the tenses and such right.)

Ella: "Small Brain, you should keep your mouth closed. Now they will believe you are a show-off."

Greg: "You aren't a show-off. You made a good point."

Ella: "You speak Latin?"

* * *

**Max:** Awww, I don't get to speak Latin?

**Soleil:** You speak Italian, crazy.

**Andrea:** Besides, Ella's acting strange. _looks at Ella_

**Ella:**_ Is trying to hide in the space under Blue's bed, which is much too small for such a purpose._ I'm so stupid.

**Blue:** _Raises her eyebrows at her muses_ Is this going to happen every time someone says or does something that's important?

**Muses minus Ella:** YES!!

**Ella:** _Has gotten herself stuck under the bed. _OW!!

**Soleil:** Please Review. It makes Blue happy.

**Max:** And she even uses the flames!! For cooking!! How ingenious.

**Andrea:** Blue never has and never will own CSI. She simply owns the plot, and us.

**Ella:** A little help here?

**All:** Thanks!!

* * *


	6. Ella on scene and Max meets Hodges

Review Responses!! 'cause I've gotten too lazy to simply respond personally.

_anonymous:_ No, that gets explained here.

_CSIvHP11:_ thanks, and same here, although its 3 for me. Also, I'm pretty sure my declensions are way off, as I haven't touched Latin since around Christmastime.

_Dragon Princess Oroch... you know who you are:_ Well, hey, creative license!! besides, unfamiliar setting, three people trying to cook at the same time... and who said Soleil was the one to actually make the mess? I just said that there _was_ a mess. The perpetrator was unspecified.

**Blue:** Ehehehe. Um, sorry for the horrible lack of updates, but school has been a bear. I have been working on portions of this in a notebook, so hopefully I won't be making my lovely readers wait so long before an update.

* * *

**Max's POV**

Ella came rushing back into the break room, hat in hand, the tops of her ears and the back of her neck blushing bright crimson. Catherine looked up, one eyebrow arching upwards when Greg didn't walk in behind her. Several pairs of eyes followed Ella as she plopped back onto the couch and attempted to repeatedly smash her forehead against Andrea's shoulder. I heard a few words muttered in mixed Latin and English, and Andrea snorted with a barely suppressed laugh.

"Andy! It's not funny!" Ella smacked Andrea with her already battered hat, glaring as Andrea tried to stifle her laughter.

"Yes it is." Andrea peered around Ella, "Sol, you were right, she is calling Greg Michael." The three of us dissolved into laughter as Ella huffed against the back of the sofa, a frown etched upon her face.

"Girls, we have work to do, if you could finish this later, it would be much appreciated." Dr. Grissom's comment had us all on our feet and moving towards our assigned labs, except for Ella, who rose still blushing to follow Dr. Grissom and Nick back out to the garage, Catherine headed off in the same direction as we saw Greg coming back towards the break room.

"Fortuna" Andy called to Ella, the smug, almost feral grin on her face that said she wouldn't let this go. Ella dejectedly flapped her hand over her shoulder in response.

* * *

**Grissom's POV**

Ella followed us out to the denali, fidgeting and looking rather uncomfortable. Once we were situated in the SUV and had pulled out of the garage, I glanced in the rear view mirror to see her pulling a pair of headphones out of one of the pockets on her cargo pants. She scowled at the tangled mass of cord and earpieces and quickly but efficiently pulled the snarl apart. I turned back to the road, as Nick turned to question her. "Michael?" I glanced again at the mirror to see her ears turn pink.

"Michael is my brother. Greg... ah, really looks like him. Sounds like him too." Ella pulled an ipod from the pocket, pushing the connection into place and putting the earpieces on her ears one at a time as she scrolled through her music. "It's weird, seeing someone who simply looks like an older version of someone you're close too. Kinda creepy." I glance back again as Nick turns to face the road, and I see Ella's head is swinging around, listening to whatever songs she has on her ipod. I watch her long enough to read her lips for a second: _"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies. This is the dawning of the rest of or lives... On Holidaaaaaay!"_ Suddenly, the almost hour-long trip seemed like it would be in silence.

"Greg's music." I muttered to Nick. "I recognize some of the phrases she's lip-syncing." Nick lifted an eyebrow in my direction and glanced back at Ella for himself.

"I don't know if I can handle two punk rockers. One tends to be enough."

"Hey, I'm more eclectic than single genre," She surprised us both when she spoke up. "Anything that's not heavy metal and most rap I'll listen to. I have quite a collection of soundtracks too." She grinned at us, "I'm what happens when you live in a house where music is a constant thing. I've always got music in my head."

Nick raised his eyebrows at her, and the vehicle lapsed back into silence.

* * *

"Why did you ask me to come?" The question came from seemingly nowhere, and I startled. "I could have just stayed at the lab, like I'm guessing you wanted me to, but you invited me to ride along on my first night of work. Why?"

I glanced at Ella's face in the mirror, and the intense curiosity in her eyes told me I had made a good decision to bring her. "Because you brought up a good point, and now was as good a time as any to show you that things aren't always as they seem. And that not everything makes sense the first time." I smiled, and she sank into thought and silence once more.

We arrived at the dam soon after that, and she hopped out next to me, stuffing the headphones back in her pocket with the player as Nick came around from the back with our kits. "You know, that'll just get tangled again if you do that." Nick flashed her a grin that said he was teasing, slipping into the "big brother" mode he seemed to pick up around younger members of the night shift.

"Yeah." Ella shrugged as the two of them followed me towards a waiting security guard. "it gets tangled no matter what. I haven't had a single day where it doesn't."

"Fair enough." Silence fell once more as we left the lights of the parking deck for the starlit darkness over the ravine.

"CSI Grissom, I'm with the Crime Lab, this is CSI Stokes, and our intern for tonight, Ms Terbot." I introduced us to the guard, and he nodded and led us into the service elevator. "Where are the sheriffs?"

"Already talking to they guy who found the thing. A couple of 'em will meet us down there. They're using the tourist stop part of the facility. Said something about not wanting to mess with the scene for you."

"Good." I turned to Nick as the elevator continued it's slow descent. "I want you to start photographing and taking evidence starting 30 yards from the turbine. Ella, you stay with Nick." I glanced back to Nick, and saw understanding. Ella would not be allowed to approach the body until Nick thought she was ready to see it, no matter what we found.

The elevator slid to a stop and the door hissed open, and we were met with a strange silence and two deputies. "It seems weird, with all the turbines stopped. Last time I was here, you couldn't hear yourself think those things were so loud." I smiled as Ella voiced the same thoughts on my mind, signaling the officers to show us which drum had the bone.

As we approached the machine they had pointed to from a distance, a powerful smell caused one officer to blanch. "You don't mind if we wait back there, Right?" He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, barely breathing.

"No, that's fine." I continued on, noticing that the coroner had already arrived and was checking the body to declare it. "What have we got, David?"

"More than just a single leg, or part thereof. We've got an entire body, minus a few parts, and based on decomp I'd say he's been dead for about three weeks."

"If he's been dead three weeks, why is it that he was only just found?"

"There's very little signs of decay around him, which indicates that he was put here very recently, but the how he got here and what happened is up to you."

"Thank you David."

"Just tell me when I can take him back to the morgue."

I nodded and crouched next to the corpse, setting my kit beside me and pulling on a pair of gloves. I started snapping pictures and collecting any evidence. I worked slowly and carefully, knowing that Nick would be working with Ella as they moved in towards the body.

* * *

**Max's POV, just after the interns head off to the different labs**

I walked into the lab Nick had pointed to as the trace lab during our impromptu tour and looked around for the lab tech. "Excuse me, but I was under the impression that children weren't allowed in the lab." The snide comment came from behind me, and I turned to find a wiry man staring down his nose at me. He held a stack of folders in his hands, a look of bored contempt on his face. "I suggest you leave before you destroy any of my equipment." He studied me for a moment before stalking over to a table and setting down the folders.

"I'm an intern, Dr. Grissom assigned me to this lab. I'm guessing you're Hodges?" I looked him over, and narrowed my eyes at his comment.

"Well assigned or not, just stay out of my way." He pointed at a chair. "You can sit there."

"I have a name, and if you can't respect me enough to ask and use it, it's rather obvious you don't get out much." My sister and I had picked up a lot of character assessment ability from our mother, and I smiled when he stiffened. "So are you anti-social, or do you just not understand social cues?"

He glared at me a moment, struggling with an appropriate response. "Fine. What's your name?" I could tell he didn't really care, but I gave a little smirk.

"Max Anderson. And I'm not here to just sit and watch, or are you not man enough to teach someone how to do this job? Scared I'll be better than you?" I smirked to myself. It was obvious I was getting under his skin.

"No. Of course not." He began pointing at some of the machines. "GC/MS, centrifuges, fume hood…" He prattled on about the equipment, and my mind went on what Sol calls my 'lecture mode' as I stopped paying conscious attention to what was being said. I responded whenever he paused, but most of my mind was on what my friends might be doing at that moment. I continued to vaguely listen as the tech began instruction on how to run specific tests for substances.

"How many samples do you process in the average work day?" I slip easily out of 'lecture mode' into 'learning mode' with the single question.

"Anywhere from 40 on a slow night to well over 200." Hodges looks at me sidelong. "The largest pile I've ever been able to get through in one night was 374. The first 20 or so were left over from days."

"What's the weirdest trace sample you've ever had?"

Hodges pauses, slightly taken aback by my sudden questioning. "Well, I'm not really sure. I've processed some really strange things here. It is Vegas after all."

"Well yeah, but there has to be something that was crazier than anything else you had ever seen come through this lab." I folded my arms and leaned on a counter, waiting intently for his answer. A small smile creased the corners of his mouth, and he began pulling bags of evidence to be tested towards himself and sat down across from me.

"Well, at one point, Grissom had me examining some hermaphroditic fish, which was quite unusual, even for Vegas." He pulls on a pair of latex gloves, motioning for me to take a pair as well, and quickly begins preparing samples for testing as he lays out the story. "An early-morning fisher spotted a body hanging from a tree out at a 'gray' water reservoir. The CSI's go out and do their thing, collecting evidence," a pause as he points at one of the bottles of chemicals on his work surface and I pass it to him. "After a while, they find out that this guy had excessively high levels of estrogen in his system, and so he had breasts. First thought: he was getting ready for a sex reassignment. Shortly after that, we find out that no, he was perfectly happy being male, and he was helping, i believe, a retired hydrologist who was studying the effects of certain drugs that make it into the water systems. The hydrologist, when the CSI's go to talk to him, ends up being dead. Now this hydrologist had a freezer full of fish. And not the kind you can eat. Grissom brings these fish back, and the first fish he examines has not only testes, but ovaries as well. Grissom then hands off the fish to me, and asks me to look and see if that is the case with all of the fish in this guy's freezer. Turned out that the first victim killed himself because he couldn't stand living with the female figure, his mom killed the hydrologist because she misunderstood what they were doing together, and the mom got off free because she was dying of cancer, which was also caused by the drugs in this so called cleaned water."

"That's crazy." I tried to reconstruct the events in my head, and gave up because of the convoluted story Hodges had told it as. "What else have you done?"

Hodges smiled and began telling me about other strange cases that had passed through the lab.

* * *

**Several hours later- Grissom's POV again**

I stood and stretched from the position I had been forced to take in order to collect some of the evidence left inside the actual turbine. Glancing over my shoulder and visually sweeping the enormous room I was surprised to see that Ella and Nick were only a couple of feet away. What surprised me even more was seeing Ella with the camera, ignoring the stench that had remained even hours after David had taken the body, confidently taking pictures of everything Nick indicated and listening as he explained some of the finer points of evidence collection. "Nick, Ella. Are you almost done?"

"Yeah. Five minutes." I nodded and waited as they finished, carefully watching Ella handle the camera with care, the tip of her tongue peeking from between her lips as she concentrated on every little detail. Finally they finished up and Ella turned the camera off, waiting to hand it back to Nick. "Alright, let's go." We started the trek back to the elevator. "Ella here is a fast learner. And she's really good with the camera." Nick was all smiles as he squeezed her shoulder. "_And_ she didn't even react to the smell."

"Oh come on, I did too react..."

"When?! I didn't see you flinch, and you didn't heave, or have to go get some air."

"I made a face and gagged for a moment. Not many organic decomposition smells get to me anymore. Not after I spent all my Sunday's shoveling composting manure for two years. Now that is some powerful smelling stuff." She laughed at the looks Nick and I must have been sporting, and explained. "I had a part-time job with a gardening center. Basically, my job was to shovel manure, sometimes fairly fresh stuff too, for customers."

By the time we stepped out of the elevator the conversation had shifted back to the corpse, as Ella had asked about how the femur had stopped the turbine. "The turbine had to have been stopped when the body was dumped, and the body was found when the smell got to be too much."

"There you are. I was about to send a search party to find you." Jim's eyes were crinkled in amusement when we stepped out. His expression changed to one of mild surprise when Ella entered his line of sight. "I didn't think you would be bringing one of the interns."

"Neither did I, but Ms. Terbot had some very pertinent observations. What do you need? LVPD has no authority out here, this is under the Sheriff's jurisdiction."

"I need you to report immediately to a scene at the Bellagio. Officer Metcalf and I are here to get you there, and your evidence to the lab, as needed."

I looked behind Jim to see the other officer waiting a ways from us. "There are a few things I have to take care of, then we can get going. And Ms. Terbot will be going back to the lab."

"Let us know when you're ready."

"Of course." Nick and I turned to the deputy waiting to take us to the worker who had found the 'femur' in the turbine.

"Dr. Grissom."

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I wait outside? I'm guessing I'll just get in the way for this." Ella shifted nervously from foot to foot, playing with the hem of her shirt as I stared at her for a moment.

"I don't think you will get in the way. I'm sure our witness' statement has already been taken, and we won't be too long." I glanced at my watch and then looked at Jim. "Alright. We'll be out in ten minutes or so."

"I'll wait here shall I?" Jim headed outside as I nodded my thanks.

Nick, Ella and I followed our sheriff's deputy guide to the worker who had found the body. "Mr. Martinez, you said you found the body and you're the one who called 911, correct?" Nick addressed the still shocked man. "We need to know what you saw, and if you touched anythin'. If you did, we'll need to get your fingerprints for exclusion. Do you understand?"

"Yeah." Mr. Martinez swallowed thickly. "Can I get some water? I'm really thirsty." I signaled to another deputy to bring a glass of water. "OK. So earlier, I come in like usual, head over to the turbine, 'cause we were goin' to be working on it, and pull the access door open. When I open the door, this disgusting smell comes out, and I nearly hurl. I look inside and after a moment, I see this big thick object stuck between the edge of the door and the turbine blade. I leant over to get a closer look, and I suddenly realize that I'm staring at a piece of human body. So I run and tell the foreman, and then I call 911 to report it."

"So you only touched the outside of the drum?" I watch his reaction as Nick gets his fingerprints, throwing a quick glance at Ella, who is scrutinizing Mr. Martinez.

"No, I touched the inside of the access door and the front of the gasket seal, where it and the door meet, and I didn't even try to get closer than that to the thing."

"Were you wearing gloves?" Ella shoots the question at Mr. Martinez, who startles.

"Yeah, we're required to wear gloves at all times."

"We're going to need to take them in for evidence, Mr. Martinez." His focus swivels to me and I explain. "You and your gloves came in contact with the crime scene, and so your gloves are evidence."

"Alright." He pulls out an old battered pair of gloves and hands them to Nick, who bags the new evidence.

"Done. Thanks for your help, Mr. Martinez." Nick stood and shook hands with him, gathered his things and the three of us left the room, heading outside to find Brass. "How did you know he would have work gloves?"

"Easy. His hands. They weren't that badly calloused from lots of tough work, and using equipment like the things I saw near the turbine is rough on bare hands, and if he hadn't worn gloves, his hands would be horrendously calloused."

"Huh. I wouldn't have thought of that."

"Course not, you're a guy." A slightly lopsided teasing grin spreads across her face. "I wouldn't expect something like that to register right away to any guy."

"Nick, will you take Ella and the evidence back to the lab? I'll ride with Brass to the Bellagio, meet me there later, unless something else has come up." We headed toward the vehicles parked in the deck.

"Sure, shouldn't take too long to log the evidence in."

Ella silently looked up at the stars, and after a moment she started humming a soft, slow tune.

I glance sidelong at her and impulsively ask; "It's rather the wrong season for that, isn't it?"

"Maybe." A small smile curled the corners of her mouth upwards. "But it's stuck in my head."

"Can you sing it?" Nick challenged her, and smiled when I raised an eyebrow at him.

Without any kind of preamble, she simply began to sing, and her voice was strong and clear as she continued to look at the stars:

_"I wonder as I wander out under the sky,  
How Jesus our savior, Did come for to die.  
For poor orn'ry people, like you and like I,  
I wonder as I wander...  
Out under the sky."_

When she finished, she smiled broadly and looked away from the open sky. "Definitely the wrong season, but I can't get it out of my head, what with being able to see so many stars. They aren't nearly as bright back home." She brushed some stray hairs back from her face and looked me straight on. "Back to Vegas?"

"Yes. Nick will be taking you back to the lab, and he'll show you how to enter evidence in. Then you'll be staying there for the rest of shift." She nodded and followed Nick to the SUV. "What have I gotten us into, Jim?"

"Beats me, but it looks like we're in for one crazy ride."

* * *

**A/N**

Andy says "Good Luck" in Latin near the beginning.

And most of the stuff about Hoover dam's turbines and such, that's made up. I have no idea what the things look like from the floor. I've been there once a couple years ago, and it was really dim down there, so I couldn't see much.

**Blue:** I love reviews by the way.

**Soleil:** That's a blatant hint.

**Andy:** In other words, the more reviews, the faster we get our chance in the spotlight._ Soleil and Andy begin attempting to try and make Blue write chapter seven faster.  
_

**Max:** 'cause Blue is too lazy to get all four of our experiences first night in one chapter.

**Ella:** _Watches Blue get beat over the head with a giant pink inflatable dolphin._ Also, any suggestions for chapter seven would be much appreciated.

**Blue:** _manages to evade the dolphin_ Because I have some trouble connecting the beginings of my stories to the rest of the story.

**Andy:** Also if Blue owned CSI, Sara would not have left, and Warrick would still be alive, although she does like the newest CSI quite a bit.

**Soleil:** So review, and don't attempt to sue her,

**Ella:** 'cause she can barely afford gas for her clunker of a minivan,

**Soleil:** Although she can use flames to make herself some tea, and grits, and a nice hot southern meal in general.

**Max: **_continues to attack Blue for Andy and Soleil_ And showers. Don't forget the showers.

**All:** THANKS!!


	7. Tricks, DNA, and smudges

**Blue:** My apologies for the extremely long wait, but I've got a very busy life that doesn't always include FanFic. And I had trouble figuring out how to finish this chapter. The next few chapters will just kinda skim through the first week, really just focusing on each intern getting out into the field with Grissom so he can see how well they work in the field. So that will, hopefully, come faster.

* * *

**Soleil's POV**

"Fortuna." Andi's smirk widened when Ella flapped her hand dejectedly over her shoulder at us. Her grin was in place even as she turned to face us. "I can't wait to hear about this."

I roll my eyes at Andi's smug look. We all know that, curious as Ella is, she gets easily flustered when everyone in a room _looks_ at her. "Tua molesta et fauta est."

"Ego scire." Andi turned and practically jumped into the print lab when I aimed a kick at her. She paused and leaned back out, gripping the edge of the door. "See ya at lunch, right?"

"Well duh." Max received a death glare for her sarcasm and Andi entered the print lab. Max and I continued to our respective labs for the night and I took a deep breath before stepping into DNA.

The lab tech glanced up briefly as I approached the work surface before returning her focus to the samples she was preparing for testing. "Give me just a moment please." She carefully finished the set, inserted it into the machine and set it running. "There." She peeled off her gloves and dropped them into the trashcan under the table. "I'm Wendy Simms. You must be one of the new interns. Grissom told me that he would be sending one of you over here."

"I'm Soleil Valentine. Nice to meet you. I shook her hand and she gave me a friendly smile.

"Welcome to Vegas."

"Thanks, I think." She noticed my apprehension and leaned in, lowering her voice.

"Don't worry, it's not all casinos and gaudy tourist traps." She hooked her chair with one foot and dropped into it, pointing at a chair behind me. "If it was, there wouldn't be much of city."

"I can't argue with that." I glance around at the glass walls. "Center of the lab. I feel like everyone is going to be staring at me."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. So... wait a second. You don't have a badge. Or a lab coat." I blink in surprise and look down at myself then back at Wendy when she groans. "Grissom! He should have taken you to get a lab coat and an ID badge, because of safety and security reasons. I'm guessing he didn't tell anyone to make sure you got all the things you need."

"Nope. He just told us where to go and sent us off."

"I better take you and let Hodges, Mandy and Henry know that they'll need to get you girls your lab stuff." She stood and I followed suit, walking across the hall into trace to see Max and an older man who I assumed was Hodges laughing uproariously.

"...And then see, Nick..." Hodges pauses in his story when we walk in and Max looks up with confusion. "Simms. What brings you over here?"

"Grissom never gave the interns their ID cards or got them lab coats." She rolled her eyes, and I wasn't sure if it was at Grissom or Hodges. "I'm taking Soleil if your intern wants to come as well. I'm about to get Mandy and Henry's too."

"Oh. I hadn't even realized." He turned to Max "You'd better go get a lab coat."

"Ok Hodges." She jumped up and followed us out. "I'm Max."

"Wendy. Nice to meet you. What are the other intern's names?"

"Andi is in prints, and Ella managed to get taken out to a scene." I speak up as we pass straight through DNA and across another hall to the print lab.

"Wow. Grissom never does something like that." She glances at us. "Whoever managed to get him to take you as interns must have a lot of his respect if he's willing to take their interns AND take one of you into the field first night."

"Dr. B said she and Grissom are old friends, and they just kept in touch." Max explains before we all step into the print lab.

"Mandy, I realized Griss never gave the interns their IDs and lab coats. I'm taking these two down if you want me to take your intern?"

"Sure. That would be great. I've got to have these prints done before more start coming in with the CSIs. Days left backlog _again_."

"Yeah, same in DNA. They're getting really sloppy, too. I found liquids on several worktops when I got in tonight."

"Andi, you coming?" I directed the question at our friend, who was seated at a computer, staring intently at the screen.

"Just a sec." She didn't even glance at us, and Max looked at me. She concentrated hard on what she was doing as she maneuvered the mouse across the screen. She clicked on several things until a victorious smile stretched across her face. "Got it. And it's a perfect match to the suspect's prints." Sh rotated the screen so that we could all see how the partial, smudged print fit exactly over the whole exemplar.

"Great. Now go get a lab coat. You shouldn't even be in here without one on." Mandy waved at us as we finally headed to get the lab coats and ID badges.

"She's been griping about Dayshift being, and I quote: 'A plethora of imbeciles who couldn't tell an eye from a dot,' and giving me a bunch of partial smudges to try and visually match to several possible matches." Andi grinned, "It's pretty cool how the program selects identifying points on the ridges."

"Andi, if you would stop talking for a moment I could introduce you. Andi, this is Wendy, Wendy this is Andi."

"Hey."

"Hi. Welcome to Vegas."

"Thanks." We finally reached our destination and began the process of getting what we needed to have access to the whole lab.

In a surprisingly short time we had our new ID cards, a lab coat, and a locker number with assigned combo lock(if we wanted it) and were headed back to the labs. "Your 'Dr. B' must really know Grissom if she sent pictures of you ahead, and he actually sent the images to be made into your IDs." Wendy looked around at us, now wearing our lab coats. I had Ella's draped over one arm, the ID and lock were held by Andi, who was absentmindedly spinning the face of the lock.

"That's kinda funny, 'cause she's always been pretty disorganized and scatterbrained herself." Max gave a grin and Wendy laughed.

"I can see why they're friends now. Thats almost too funny."

"I'm going to drop my stuff in my locker, anyone else coming?" Andi glanced around, waiting for a response.

"I'll go. We can drop El's stuff in her locker."

"I'll head back to trace, and I'll see you at lunch." Max waved as she and Wendy headed towards their labs and we ducked into the locker room.

"You're planning something. I can tell. You've got that 'This is going to be soooo much fun' look. I'm glad Els not here. The two of you with that look is downright frightening."

Andrea turned and smirked at me. "I'm glad too. 'cause otherwise this wouldn't work." She grabbed the lab coat from my arm, opening up Ella's locker at the same time. She hung the lab coat on the little hook inside the locker and then carefully grabbed an invisible line about halfway down the garment, pulling it up to be on level with the top of the door. The lock and ID badge were placed in the sling she had made, and then she closed the locker door, making sure that her fold was caught between the locker and the locker door, ensuring that the two objects would fall out the minute the door was opened. "Don't say anything."

I rolled my eyes, both of us knowing I wouldn't, simply because it was one of her _safer_ practical jokes, and it would be funny to see Ella jump when the lock came tumbling out of the locker, along with an ID badge. We turned and headed back to the labs and slowly began working the complex machines and helping the techs.

* * *

**Several Hours later: Andi's POV  
**

"Man, I'm starving. What's for lunch?" Ella walked into the break room where we were sitting, eating the subs we had ordered.

"Here. Catch." I picked up the only still-wrapped sandwich on the table and tossed it to her. "Just like you always get." Soleil snorted into her flatbread sandwich and Max rolled her eyes. We could each get our group's Subway order from memory.

"Thanks." She caught the sandwich and flopped into an open seat beside Soleil, who wrinkled her nose just a bit. Her wet hair swung in dark cords around her face.

"You stink like a sewer." Max spoke from at least three feet away as we backed away from Ella just a bit.

"No, just lake-water with a hint of corpse." She grabbed half of her sandwich and took an enormous bite. "Oh man, this tastes so good right now."

"Did you wash?" She glanced at me.

"Whaddaya think?" She lifted a clump of wet hair from her neck. "'course I did. Can't get the stench out."

"Lemons." Sara Sidle walked into the room, headed straight for the fridge.

"What?" We turned to stare at her as one as she calmly pulled out a container of food and shut the door.

"Lemons. They get the stink out." She sat down next to me and opened her lunch. "Trust me. It might not seem like it, but it actually works. A small bag of lemon halves in the shower and you're good to go."

"Note to self: pick up ginormous bag of lemons." Sara smiled at Max's comment, while we just rolled our eyes.

"Any other tips for us?" Soleil spoke around a bite of sandwich, trying to ignore the smell from Ella, who was now studiously ignoring everyone in favor of her food.

Sara thought for a moment. "Bring some spare clothes. And keep a set of clothes that you can get really dirty in your locker." She paused and munched on a bite of salad. "Keep a small shower kit in your locker too."

"Figured that one out." Ella shook some water droplets from her hair, spattering Soleil and Sara on either side of her, barely missing me.

"Do I _have_ to put up with this?"

"Yep!" I popped the 'p' with a smug smile in response to Sara's unamused question. She wiped the few drops off her face, frowning just a bit.

"Sara. Doc's about to do our autopsy. You want to go, or should I?" Warrick stood in the door, calmly tapping a folder against one palm.

"You get it. I'm starved. I'll try and get down there before he finishes."

"Right. See you down there." He turned and left as quickly as he had come, but not before giving a small smile to us.

"Is he always that gregarious?" I made a face at Ella as she spoke around a mouthful of sandwich.

"No, Greg is the gregarious one." Soleil rolled her eyes at Sara's wordplay, wrapping the second half of her sandwich up to save for later.

"Aww, Sara. I'm hurt." Greg walked in, sending Sara a friendly smile. "I thought you liked talking to me."

Sara grinned as Greg pulled a container of ice cream from the little freezer. "Only when I want to hear wild stories about the most random, irrelevant subjects ever."

"Hey, what I say is relevant. Usually" Greg was moving around the table when he paused and moved back behind Ella, leaning down to stage whisper in her ear. "You stink."

Ella, much to our amusement, managed to _not_ growl at him, instead speaking around clenched teeth. "Tell me something I _don't_ know."

He scurried to sit as far from her as possible, between Max and myself. "We solved the B&E. It wasn't the real deal. Insurance scam, done within three hours."

"Congratulations, Greg. And by-the-way, he used that line to flirt with me once. Or at least tried to."

"I did?" He paused and blinked in concentration, while Sara glared at him. "No, I didn't. I believe what I said was 'You smell like death.' To which you replied, rather testily, 'I know.' And then I told you that a real man wouldn't care."

"And, well, I've got to admit you were right." We glanced between them in confusion. "EMT I ended up going out with."

We continued to stare between them until Greg started. "She and Nick had been working a decomp, and this EMT had been there when they picked it up, and he came by later, but couldn't stand the 'smell of death' on her."

"Because I had been working on 'liquid man's' jacket, so the smell had adhered to my hair. Well, he couldn't take it and left in a hurry, just as Greg was passing by."

"So, me being me, I have to stop and say something, and I back up a step or two, lean towards her and say 'You smell like Death.'"

"And I get rather testy with him for stating the obvious and snap at him. He starts walking again, but turns to say one last thing to me."

"I said, 'You know, a real man wouldn't mind' and just walked away."

"I did end up dating the EMT for a while, but then I found out that a victim in a car crashing through a restaurant was his girlfriend when I went to interview her."

"She dumped him. The bastard."

"Greg." Everyone at the table looked up to see Catherine standing in the doorway. "We have another scene."

Greg sighed. "No lunch for me, then."

"You just finished off a carton of Ben & Jerry's." Soleil looked at him in amusement.

"That wasn't lunch, that was a snack." He grinned and followed Catherine out, dropping the empty container in the trash as he left.

"Boys." I sat back, rolling my eyes at Greg's retreating back. "Bunch of lunatics."

"We're a bunch of lunatics." Ella had finally put her sandwich down and was reaching for Soleil's half-empty cup.

"Yes, but we're..."

"No, we're not." Max interrupted Soleil, who simply waved her hand at Ella as her drink was stolen.

We were interrupted in our debate by Sara's phone going off. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen. "Warrick needs me." She stood and headed for the door. "See ya later."

There was a chorus of 'bye' and 'later' as Sara walked quickly down the hall and out of sight.

"We got lab-coats and ID cards. Your's are in your locker, if you're done stuffing your face." Ella glares at me before re-wrapping half her sandwich and holding out her hand for the sharpie I pass to her. She scribbles her name on the paper and passes the sharpie back before putting the second half of her sandwich into the fridge.

"Right. Coat and Card."

She follows me out and in moments I'm pointing to the rigged locker, and she quickly flicks it open. The lock and her ID card come tumbling out, and Ella yelps, leaping backwards into the bench through the center of the room. She tumbles over it, both hands flying out to slam into the lockers behind her in an attempt to prevent an impact with the floor. The lock comes to a stop under the bench, which is holding Ella's lower legs up, her body suspended by sheer willpower between the lockers and the bench. I'm doubled over snickering, and the glare she sends me sends me into another bout of laughter as she pushes herself onto the bench.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny, I think NOT!"

"So worth it." I turn and leave the room with a smug grin.

"Why do I always end up with the crazy friends?" Her mutter is the last thing I hear from her as I head back to prints.

"Because you're just as crazy as we are." I mutter under my breath and stroll into the lab, where Mandy already has work set aside for me.

"Hey Andi, Grissom suspects all those smudges came from the same person. See if you can get a good print out of all of those."

"Alright." We lapse into silence as we go about our respective tasks, and I can't help but glance through the glass walls now and then at my friends in various other labs. Soleil and the DNA girl, Wendy, are deep into a fairly animated discussion, if Wendy's waving hands are any indication, as they run through samples. Max is clearly trying her hardest to not grin as she and Hodges shoot snarky comments back and forth over their microscopes. Ella is now visible, working with the guy Mandy said was Henry, who appears to be slightly apprehensive about letting her use the chemicals in his lab. He also seems almost scared of her, which is probably a good thing after the attack of the combination lock in the locker room.

I grin, returning all my focus to the smudges in front of me. No doubt, the next 8 weeks are going to be very interesting.

* * *

**A/N**

Andi says "Good Luck" in Latin.

Soleil says: "You are annoying and stupid."

Andi replies: "I know."

Also, reviews make the writing easier!


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